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Update: See below for an explanation as to how this happened.
Yesterday an article in The Sunday Times (UK) set the web abuzz over new findings that every Google search contributed 7 grams of CO2 to the atmosphere – half the amount produced when heating a tea kettle (heaven forbid!). I criticized the article for being overly alarmist, with a lack of perspective and possible bias. Google also responded, effectively denouncing the claim.
At the heart of the story was a young physicist named Alex Wissner-Gross, who, according to the article, says "that performing two Google searches uses up as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea". This sentence alone was enough to rile up reporters around the globe, and has now been repeated in hundreds of articles worldwide.
Unfortunately, according to Wissner-Gross he never said anything of the sort (or not, see below). For starters, he says he would never refer to any sort of measurement having to do with tea (he'd go with coffee). But his findings have nothing to do with Google as a company, either – they're concerned with much more generalized stats, like your computer's rate of CO2 production when you look at a webpage.
Wissner-Gross says that the widely circulated 7 gram/search figure came from some other source (he's not sure where), and notes that if you read the article carefully it only makes it sound like it's from his data. He has confirmed that he did make some vague statements regarding Google, including "A Google search has a definite environmental impact" and "Google operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power". But the "tea kettle" statistic that has been repeated ad nauseum simply isn't his. After learning of the misleading story, Wissner-Gross says that he contacted The Times and was assured that it would be fixed by Sunday morning. No corrections have been made.
Another concern I had with The Times article was that it neglected to accurately describe Wissner-Gross's company, CO2Stats. The startup allows companies to purchase renewable energy to neutralize their website's environmental impact and get "Green Certified" badges to display on their homepages. Because of this potential conflict of interest, Wissner-Gross's affiliation with the company should have been described in the article, but was only mentioned in passing. Again, it seems like The Times was at fault here, as Wissner-Gross says that he described the purpose of CO2Stats and his role there in detail, though it seems to have been largely ignored by the reporters in question.
He may have been misquoted, but Wissner-Gross hasn't failed to capitalize on the article – he's spent the majority of the day conducting interviews with news publications as well as radio and television shows, and CO2Stats will likely see a boost (as will the Green IT movement in general).
This isn't the first time in recent memory that The Times has been mistaken about a tech story – in late November the newspaper incorrectly reported on a complicated and fictional Yahoo/Microsoft search arrangement.
Jonathan Leake, the Science & Environment Editor at the Sunday Times (UK), has taken umbrage with my choice of words. The Sunday Times did not "make up" the CO2 statistic, he says. Instead, it looks like it came from this obscure blog post, though Leake says that he was under the impression that it came from original research conducted by physicist Alex Wissner-Gross.
An <a href=" editorial piece Wissner-Gross wrote to accompany the widely-spread 'Tea kettle' article contains the passage "based on publicly available information, we have calculated that each Google search generates an estimated 5-10 g of CO2", which seems to indicate that the statistic came from his research.
However, Wissner-Gross denies that he offered the "5-10 g" figure as his own. In the draft he submitted to the Times, he referred only to "publicly available information", not to his calculations. Leake has confirmed that the wording was changed during editing, but insists that Wissner-Gross claimed the statistic as one of his own findings during a phone conversation.
So where exactly did these figures come from if not from new research? Wissner-Gross says he searched the web for some publicly available information about Google until he came across a blog post written in 2007 on Rolf Kersten's Weblog. The post estimates that one Google search equates to 6.8 grams of CO2 emissions, which is apparently where this oft-repeated statistic originated. But even if Wissner-Gross is telling the truth and he never misrepresented the origin of the data, he used a blog that could hardly be considered a reputable scientific source (no offense, Mr. Kersten) to write his article.


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OTTAWA — A stuffed deer head made a cameo appearance Tuesday during a virtual gathering of members of Parliament.
The deer head, replete with antlers, was mounted on the wall behind Conservative MP Blaine Calkins as he questioned the government on what he called its "forced confiscation of law-abiding firearms owners' property" — referring to the recently announced ban on military-style assault weapons.
Were MPs actually sitting in the House of Commons, they'd be banned from using any props or visual displays to illustrate or emphasize their remarks.
Commons Speaker Anthony Rota has expressed concern about MPs using the virtual setting to break the rules of decorum that normally apply.
"One issue that I think must be addressed has to be with the visual background in front of which members appear," Rota told the procedure and House affairs committee Monday.
"Based on established practice, these backgrounds should be as neutral as possible, and consistent with the non-partisan environment of the chamber or committee."
Rota did not give any example of backdrops that he believes have strayed from neutrality.
However, he may have had in mind the screen that British Columbia MP Paul Manly used as a backdrop during a virtual sitting last week. It was green in colour and Manly is, of course, a Green party MP.
Or he might have been thinking of the distracting painting of colourful turbans that served as a backdrop for Industry Minister Navdeep Bains last week.
In a letter to the chair of the House affairs committee, Rota elaborated on his view that despite the "exceptional circumstances" created by the pandemic, he believes "it is still necessary to maintain the authority and dignity of Parliament and its proceedings as much as possible."
"The House has long-established rules for decorum that prohibit the use of displays, props and exhibits. The House also regulates how it is broadcast, to the point of specifying what shot angles to use when it is to be video recorded.
"Not only does this preserve the dignity of Parliament and its proceedings, but it also better ensures that what is debated and decided upon in the House remains more important than what is seen."
Rota asked the committee to issue guidelines on ensuring decorum during virtual proceedings, which he could use when presiding over the twice-weekly virtual sittings of a modified House of Commons.
Until then, he said he'll continue to advise MPs to "refrain from including any background that is not consistent with the norms and standards followed within the parliamentary precinct."
Rota has also chided MPs for not wearing business attire when participating in virtual proceedings.
However, Rota did experience some pushback Tuesday to the manner in which he's attempting to preserve decorum.
After Conservative MP Mel Arnold interrupted Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan's response to one of his questions, Rota reminded MPs they are not to interrupt when another person is speaking. He mused that he may start muting MPs who interrupt "if it's necessary."
During a normal sitting of the House of Commons, only the microphone of the person speaking is turned on. Other MPs frequently heckle but their remarks are usually hard to make out. The Speaker will stop proceedings and call for order if the noise level is too high for the person speaking to be heard.
The virtual proceedings have eliminated the heckling. But Rota's attempt to also prevent interruptions drew an objection Tuesday from Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner.
She noted that the virtual sittings during the COVID-19 pandemic are structured like committee meetings, which typically allow MPs more freedom to interrupt to cut off lengthy answers or to castigate a witness for not answering their questions.
Given that, Rempel Garner said Rota's threat to mute MPs who interrupt "seems a little dictatorial."
Rota denied having threatened to mute MPs. Rempel Garner retorted that he "actually did," before Rota cut her off and said he'd look into the matter.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2020.
Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

subset: commoncrawl


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Let's get this out of the way: you can travel with a baby. Many new parents feel that once they have a child, their travel days are over, but many parents will tell you that the first six months are the easiest time to travel with a baby. Is it easy? Not exactly, but with enough planning and the right attitude, it's not as hard as you might think. Is it selfish? Probably, but so is most travel. Again, planning, attitude and a good amount of luck factor in to ensuring that you and baby aren't a nuisance to other passengers and that you and your child have a safe and healthy trip. My baby is too young to remember her early adventures, but she's learning to be adaptable and sociable, and does well with travel, new people, and noise. Is it fun? Your carefree days of travel may be over, but you can still enjoy exploring new places, indulging in great food and wine (it might just be at a sidewalk cafe at 4pm instead of a trendy restaurant at 9pm), and engaging with locals more deeply than you ever did before baby. Given the patience, resourcefulness, and ingenuity that I've developed while traveling with a baby, I'd say it has made me a better traveler, maybe even a better person.
Living in a foreign country like Turkey puts me at an advantage: I deal with a language and cultural barrier every day and everything is much more complicated and difficult than it would be at home in New York. Because this is not our permanent home and imported items are expensive, we made it through the first few months with little more than a stroller, a baby wrap to carry her, and a portable changing pad, so we already travel light. I say it gives me an advantage because I'm already used to the challenges and unfamiliarity inherent in travel. What makes foreign travel daunting (even without a baby) is the foreignness of it all, which has become my normal (after nearly two years abroad, I can tell you that knowing what's going on all the time is overrated). The skills I've honed as a traveler and an expat — problem-solving, thinking ten steps ahead, and planning an exit strategy — are the same I use as a parent; you can apply the same lessons with a child or on the road.Now with a few trips under my belt with baby both solo and with my husband (and more travel planned in the coming weeks and months), I've developed some guidelines to help with traveling with a baby. I'll be posting some additional articles on how to cope with a baby on a plane and on the ground, travel gear recommendations, as well as some destination-specific info, but first: some tips on planning a trip with a baby.
–Choose a baby-friendly destination. You may find that people everywhere are much more understanding and helpful to people traveling with babies than you imagine, but some places are more baby-friendly than others. In my experience, Mediterranean Europe is full of baby-lovers, even if the cobblestones, stairs, and ancient infrastructure presents a lot of challenges. Istanbul can be a nightmare to navigate with a stroller, but there are always friendly Turks willing to help. I've also heard babies in Latin America and Southeast Asia are treated like rock stars. Generally, countries with a high birth rate tend to be friendlier than others, though I've found the United States to be the most difficult in terms of other people's attitudes.
-Prepare to pare down: There are a lot of great things about having a baby in the 21st century, but people managed quite well for generations without wipe warmers (really, this is a thing?!) and baby gyms. There are a few items I use at home every day such as a bouncy seat, a nursing pillow, and a folding bathtub, but I've done fine without them for weeks at a time while traveling. I know at some point down the line, I'll need to pack a myriad of toys, snacks, and diversions for my child, but infants need very little. It may help to wean yourself off of baby gear in advance of your trip to see how well you can get along with less. Let the baby get used to a travel cot if you plan to use one, try getting around for a day with just a baby carrier, and introduce toys that can be easily attached to a stroller and then stashed in a pocket. Think about your destination: will a stroller be more of a hinderance than a help or can you get along with another mode of transport? Do you need a car seat or can you rent one? What can serve multiple purposes? I carry a thin Turkish towel that looks like a pashmina and I can use it as a burp cloth, nursing cover, baby blanket, and a scarf. The less you can pack, the better. Really all you can handle is baby in a stroller, one wheeled suitcase, and a purse and/or diaper bag. Anything more and you'll regret it. Also, keep in mind that babies are born everywhere, and there are few places in the world where you can't buy diapers, formula, clothes, or other gear. Pack enough in your carry-on to get through the first day and night in case you arrive at your destination after shops close.
-Schedule travel around baby: Babies are adaptable, but when it comes to travel, especially flying, make it as easy on yourself as possible. My baby generally wakes up early to eat, then goes back to sleep for a few hours, and sleeps through most of the night. Therefore, I've tried to book flights for early in the morning or overnight so she's awake as little as possible. In the six flights we took to and from the US and domestically, the only one we had any trouble with was a 45-minute Boston to New York flight in the early evening, when she tends to be cranky. It's hard to comfort a baby when you're standing in line or getting ready to board a flight, so if your baby is already asleep at the airport, that's half the battle. There used to be nothing I hated more than getting to the airport at the crack of dawn, but traveling with a sleeping, and more importantly, quiet baby is worth getting up early.
-Consider an apartment rental: With the popularity of websites such as AirBnB (even after the home trashing scandal), renting an apartment for even a short stay is an increasingly viable option when planning a trip. It not only gives you more space and a more home-like environment, it can also help you to get to know a place more through the neighborhood and markets when you buy food to cook on your trip. For a parent, an apartment has several key advantages over a hotel room. Having access to laundry while traveling can be a huge help and reduce your packing load significantly. Likewise, whether you are breastfeeding or using formula, having a kitchen with a fridge can be a necessity with a baby. If you're set on a hotel stay (daily room-cleaning could be a big help too!), make sure your room has a minibar fridge to stash bottles inside and a bathtub if your baby is too big for the sink, and get info on the closest laundromat.
-Do your research: The last thing you want when traveling is to be standing on a subway platform with a crying baby, after hauling a heavy stroller up a flight of stairs, only to discover the train is bypassing your station. Before I travel next week to Slovenia and Italy, I'm looking up everything from how to cross the border by taxi, to what train stations have elevators, to public bathrooms in Venice with baby-changing stations (though I've managed many times on the top of a toilet seat lid and a changing pad). All the stuff about a destination you could wait to figure out until you arrived before you had a baby will help you a lot to plan in advance. Here's some examples of things to research before you go, the more prepared you can be, the better.
Stay tuned for more tips on travel with a baby, in the air and on the ground plus destination guides for foreign travel with a baby. Waiting for baby to arrive? Check out past Knocked Up Abroad articles on traveling while pregnant and what to expect when you're expecting in Turkey.


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Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei is taking a PR victory lap following reports suggesting that the National Security Agency spied on the company.
Earlier this week, Brazilian TV network Globo revealed a raft of documents that purportedly came from Edward Snowden. The files implicate the NSA, along with its British snooping ally, GCHQ, in spying on numerous targets, including a Saudi bank, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Huawei — the same Huawei that was vilified last year by Congress and deemed a security threat because it might do something sinister like spy.
Huawei released a statement saying that it was "very disturbed" that the NSA attempted to worm its way into its networks and information. Huawei added that it "utterly object[s] to such illegal practices."
[Source:The Age]
Notorious Online Critic Arrested in China
Citing false business records, Chinese authorities arrested a man who just so happened to also be a popular and outspoken critic of the government.
The man, Dong Rubin — better known by his online pseudonym, bianmin — has been dissing The Man online since 2009. His dissidence began after what came to be known as the"hide and seek" case, when authorities claimed that a man died in police custody while playing hide and seek with inmates. (A subsequent investigation showed he was beaten to death by other inmates.)
Dong was reportedly snookered into coming out of his Kunming apartment when police told him his car had been hit. Electronic items, including a laptop and other computer equipment, were taken from his home.
Officially, Dong was arrested for inaccurately registering the amount of capital his business had (Dong admitted to making such a misstep). However, netizens are reportedly worried that the capital registration issue is a guise, and that the real offense was spouting off online. China's Supreme Court recently stiffened penalties for online rabble-rousing.
Several high-profile online critics have been arrested in China recently, but not always for being online critics. One such person, Qin Zhihui, was detained for engaging in illegal business operations; another was arrested for soliciting a prostitute.
[Source:Global Times via Tech In Asia]
Information Stolen in Vodafone Germany Hack
A hacker is believed to have nabbed personal details, including names, addresses, bank account numbers and birth dates, for more than 2 million Vodafone Germany customers.
The info was stored in a database within the company's internal network.
Customers have been notified and warned to keep their eyes peeled for phishing messages designed to sucker people into revealing personal data.
A suspect was identified and his home was searched, according to Vodafone Germany, which has 36 million mobile customers.
Far Out: Voyager Leaves Solar System
Let's now depart from international tech news to touch on interstellar tech news.
NASA confirmed that its Voyager 1 spacecraft has become the first human-made object to reach interstellar space. The spacecraft, launched in 1977, is believed to be about 12 billion miles from the sun (Earth is a *mere* 93 million miles).
In 2004, Voyager 1 detected increased pressure of interstellar space on the heliosphere, which is the bubble of charged particles surrounding the sun, according to NASA. These charged particles extend beyond the outer planets, which tipped off scientists that the spacecraft's interstellar arrival could be imminent.
Scientists were able to confirm that the spacecraft was in interstellar space after the sun let out a coronal mass ejection — a huge burst of solar win and magnetic fields — in March 2012. When this ejection reached the Voyager 1 13 months later, the plasma around the spacecraft reacted in such a way that would only happen in interstellar space.
Working backwards, scientists figured out that the Voyager 1 first went into interstellar space in August 2012.


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Apply to work on a tree that's protected
You may need to make a 'works to trees' application if they're protected by a 'tree preservation order' (TPO) or you live in a conservation area. Work can include trimming, topping, uprooting or lopping branches.
What you need to know
- Available in England and Wales only


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Externships: Earn Credit, Gain Practical, Hands-On Experience
Record Number of Second and Third-Year Law Students Take Advantage of Program
By Staff, William & Mary Law School
William & Mary law students are externing for academic credit in record numbers. Externs earn academic credit by assisting judges, government agencies, law firms, public defenders, in-house counsel, legal aid offices, public interest organizations, and prosecutors. During 2011-12, 206 students externed, a 53 percent increase when compared to program enrollment in 2006-07. Ninety-four students - 22 percent of the 2L and 3L classes - externed during fall 2012. The growth in the externship program is not surprising, given the professional development benefits of externing. Consider, for example, this representative sample of challenging work performed by externs in a recent semester:
• Writing a brief to the Fourth Circuit involving identity theft
• Analyzing evidence in a capital murder prosecution
• Drafting an order for a new trial due to ineffective assistance of counsel
• Assessing allegations of trademark and copyright infringement
• Researching U.S. obligations under multilateral arms control treaties
• Interviewing witnesses for a divorce case
• Trying a misdemeanor prosecution
• Writing a memo involving government approval of housing developments
• Revising a complex federal register release dealing with financial industry regulations
• Representing a client seeking unemployment compensation
• Preparing applications for refugees seeking asylum
• Handling discovery involving veterans benefits claims
• Helping implement reforms to a telecommunications compensation system
• Writing bench memoranda for probate court judges
• Drafting and presenting a proposed ordinance to a county board of supervisors
"Externships are a win-win for our students and the organizations they serve," said Associate Dean Rob Kaplan, who directs the externship program. "Externs gain hands-on experience to complement their classroom learning, enhance their practical skills, and develop contacts and references for their job searches. Host organizations get first-rate help."
Students often describe externships as among the best educational experiences of law school, Kaplan noted. They appreciate the opportunity to draw on their classroom learning to resolve legal issues in the field, to serve clients, and to work closely with lawyers and judges.
Third-year law student Naomi Harralson began her legal studies with the goal of working in the field of higher education law. "William & Mary helped me to achieve that dream," she said. Harralson took advantage of two externships - one on campus during the school year with William & Mary's legal counsel and the other during the summer in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of the General Counsel in Washington, D.C. Those opportunities provided in-depth exposure to substantive areas of higher education law as well as a chance to experience working in both university and government settings. Harralson credits the program with giving her the best possible preparation for the next chapter in her life. After she graduates, she will join the higher education practice group at a law firm in Washington, D.C.
Field supervisors uniformly praise externs' skills, initiative, professionalism, and enthusiasm. As one federal judge recently commented, "You sent us a truly outstanding extern for this semester. The student has been nothing short of incredible. Her writing abilities are A+, and she has a great work ethic. For example, she sat in during two settlement conferences that we conducted; the second lasted to midnight. Even though she could have left at her normal time, she stayed to the bitter end and was a tremendous help. Her great work speaks well of William & Mary."
Externships have staying power beyond law school. According to recent studies by The Association for Legal Career Professionals and the NALP Foundation, more than 72 percent of former externs practicing with government agencies and nonprofit organizations and more than 60 percent of former externs practicing with law firms rated their externship experiences as "very useful" in preparing them for practice.
Many William & Mary alumni arrange externships in their offices or serve as field supervisors. "As with all aspects of the Law School, our graduates play a key role in the success of the externship program," Kaplan emphasized.
Editor's Note: If you work for a legal or law-related organization and are interested in sponsoring a student intern, please visit this website and contact Associate Dean Rob Kaplan at [[w|rekapl]] or (757)221-3804.


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Kiko child's sweater
Cotton sweater for girls and boys with the three Royal Son Bou Family Club mascots
Delivery of products of the Royal Son Bou Family Club online store
You will receive your products within a maximum of 3 days in Spain and 5 days in the rest of Europe.
It is considered that delivery has taken place from the moment in which the carrier reports that the customer has received the order by the control system of the carrier.
Returning products purchased at the Royal Son Bou Family Club online shop
You can return or exchange a product if you receive a defective or wrong item. We will replace it for other without charge, provided that you notify us within 24 hours after receipt of order by mailing email@example.com. Once we receive your claim we will contact you to explain the process of product replacement.
But if you are dissatisfied with any of the products you have purchased from our online shop, you can return it and obtain the price refund of the returned product, contacting us within 14 days after our product delivery.
In order to exercise the option to return a product that you are not satisfied, you must send an email to email@example.com to arrange the refund, indicating the reason for your decision.
It is an indispensable condition for the refund of the amount paid that the products are returned in perfect condition with all accessories.
Packages which do not provide any information to identify the sender cannot be returned (order number, name, address, etc.).
The items will be sent to:
Royal Son Bou Family Club
Playa Son Bou s/n
07730 - Alaior (Menorca)
The costs and risks associated with returning the product will be charged to the buyer, who must return the COD package by regular mail, securely and with the necessary guarantees that the returned products arrive in perfect condition.
The return of products will result in a refund equal to the purchase price thereof, not including shipping costs. The product return costs are borne by the buyer.
Reimbursement will be made through bank transfer. Payments made through PayPal will be returned by bank transfer excluding PayPal processing fees 3,40% + 0,35€ of the value of the sum of the product.
The return shall be effective upon receipt and review of the product. In the case of detecting an abnormality in the product, you will be notified by mail of the failure recorded and we will search for a solution.
If the product is opened, it is essential that both the packaging and content, and the accessories are intact. However if the packaging is worn, handled or looks worn, or the product or its accessories are damaged, we cannot access your refund request. If you want to claim or make a complaint, please write to the following address: firstname.lastname@example.com.
Shipping costs
Shipping costs depend on the country to which the order is requested. The shipping cost is automatically calculated and displayed during the order handling process.
Order payment
Prices are at all times visible during the purchase process. All prices include VAT.
There are two possibilities to pay the products purchased at the online shop of the Royal Son Bou Family Club:
- VISA / MASTERCARD: Once the payment order is accepted with a credit card, the website of Royal Son Bou Family Club automatically connects to your bank to confirm that your details are correct. Just then you will see a summary of your purchase (price and method of payment, customer information, shipping costs and delivery time). The data transmission of your payment card will be encoded in a completely secure server environment, so the Royal Son Bou Family Club will not have access to any of your data.
- PayPal is the most used method to send and receive money online. The benefits of using PayPal are:
- It's fast: payments are made immediately.
- It is private: it does not reveal your financial information to sellers.
- It is global: it is accepted worldwide and is used to make payments locally and internationally.
- It's reliable: the fraud prevention sector leader provides security


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Most commonly, oral sedation (usually in the form of anti-anxiety pills also known as "happy pills") is prescribed for relieving anxiety in the hours immediately before a dental appointment. An anti-anxiety or a sleeping pill taken the night before the appointment, an hour before going to bed, can help with falling asleep and getting some rest. Alternatives include a stiff drink or stocking up on rescue remedy… but find out more below!
Anti-Anxiety Pills (Benzodiazepines or "Benzos")
In dentistry, the most commonly prescribed drugs for (or rather against!) anxiety belong to the "benzodiazepine" family. You've probably heard of them by their tradenames – for example, Valium, Halcion, Xanax, or Ativan.
Benzos decrease anxiety by binding with receptors in the brain which tone down activity in those parts of the brain responsible for fear.
Travel warning!
You shouldn't travel on your own after you've taken benzodiazepines in the doses mentioned here – make sure you have an escort, even if you're walking there! It's easy to become disorientated and miss your stop if going by bus or train, or walk straight in front of a car – or you might even forget that you're on your way to your dentist's ("hey cool" I hear you say )… So find someone to accompany you. And please don't pop pills and drive!
Benzodiazepines come in two flavours:
- Sedative-Hypnotics: drugs which induce a calming effect, including drowsiness ("sedation"). In higher doses, they induce a state resembling physiological sleep ("hypnosis").
- Anti-Anxiety Drugs: drugs which act primarily to relieve anxiety and make you feel calm.
While all benzodiazepines act as sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs, some are more targeted at brain areas which control sleep and wakefulness, while others are more specifically targeted at brain areas which control emotions such as fear. The classification of whether a benzodiazepine is sedative-hypnotic or anti-anxiety is to some extent an arbitrary one, as the boundaries are quite fluid. As a rule of thumb, in higher doses benzos act like sedatives and may promote sleep, while in lower doses, they simply reduce anxiety.
Benzodiazepines are Central Nervous System (CNS) depressants (for example, there can be a decline in blood pressure and breathing – which is good, because if your heart isn't racing, you'll feel calmer). They should not be mixed with other CNS depressants such as alcohol. Don't self-medicate and stick to the dose your dentist or doctor recommends (which may be a higher dose than specified on the drug package insert. Reason being that the package inserts recommend a dose to induce sedation or sleep in a nonstress situation such as the home environment). It is possible to overdose on these things, and overdoses could lower your breathing to dangerously low levels, which could result in coma or even death.
In case this sounds scary – unless you make a deliberate attempt to overdose, it's extremely unlikely for any dangerous symptoms to develop. The reason why benzos are so widely used is precisely because they're safe.
People for whom benzos have worked well describe them as "working wonders", as having a calming and relaxing effect, or as making you feel "out of it". Giddiness, confusion and saying silly things are also common. Benzos may make you forget large parts of what happened while you were under their influence, which can be handy if you don't want to remember very much! However, this effect is not reliable.
Dentists who offer oral sedation will have particular preferences, depending on their experience (and experiences) with various drugs. Commonly prescribed benzos include:
Temazepam (Restoril):
Temazepam is quite frequently used in the UK. In contrast to Valium, its half-life is about 10 hours, so quite a bit shorter. It kicks in after about half an hour. The recommended dose is 10 – 40 mg (with the most common one being 30 mg). Why this huge range? In some people 40 mg of temazepam produces minimal effects whilst in others as little as 10 mg produces profound sedation. This is a problem with all benzos – there is no known method of identifying who is susceptible and who is resistant to benzodiazepines.
Diazepam (Valium):
Diazepam produces a mild level of sleep and amnesia, and takes effect about an hour after taking it. The average dose for an adult is 5 to 10 mg. The disadvantage of diazepam is that it stays in the system for much longer than it is needed (it has a half-life of 20-100 hours).
Lorazepam (Ativan):
Lorazepam can produce a higher level of sleepiness and memory loss than diazepam. The usual dose is 2 to 3 mg. It kicks in after about one hour, like diazepam, but its half-life is much shorter (12 to 14 hours).
Midazolam (Versed):
Midazolam is a short-acting benzo which can produce high levels of sleepiness and memory loss. It is given as a syrup or mixed into a (non-alcoholic) drink. The drink would usually be given at the dentist's. It kicks in very quickly, after about 10-20 minutes.
Triazolam (Halcion):
This is not available in the U.K., but is hugely popular in the U.S. Unlike the other benzos mentioned here, it is not so much used as a premedication, but as an alternative to IV sedation in the dental office. This can work really well for some people and many swear by it! But as with all benzos, other people find it has little effect on them.
Controversies in Dentistry – Titration of Oral Sedatives
Occasionally, Halcion is used in the United States as an alternative to IV sedation. One of the effects of Halcion is that it can induce amnesia (memory loss) for what's happening from the point the drug kicks in to the point it wears off. (All benzos can have this effect to some extent, but Halcion somewhat more so than others. However, the amnesia effect is unreliable – this also applies to Halcion). If Halcion is given intermittently one hour before an appointment and then during treatment at intermittent intervals, it can work well for some people as a substitute for IV sedation.
However, in 2002 the American Dental Association came out in a position paper against titration of oral sedation medication (titration means adding more of the drug, i. e. giving extra pills until the desired effect is achieved). This statement followed the rise of an organization called the "Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation" (or DOCS for short) which was founded in 2000 by a DDS called Michael Silverman and provides training in oral sedation. In 2004, DOCS had more than 1,900 member dentists in the US. DOCS is where the misleading term "sleep dentistry" (applied to oral sedation) was first invented. The training courses also advocate titration of oral medication. Many dentists feel that this practice is unsafe and/or that the training is not thorough enough. Even with thorough training, many dentists believe that titration of oral medication is too unpredictable. Oral medication can take up to two hours to absorb – so a patient could swallow a pill and the dentist, not seeing the effects of the drug an hour or two later, delivers a second pill. Meanwhile, the first pill is being absorbed and the patient has ingested twice the amount he or she needs. To be fair, it should be mentioned that there have been no adult deaths reported using the DOCS regime so far.
Because of the medical and legal situation, many dentists do not feel comfortable with this method.
Can I take benzos as a premedication before IV sedation?
Yes you can. You must however let your dentist know that you have taken them and what dose (unless your dentist has prescribed them and knows anyway). Be sure to inform your dentist beforehand, rather than on the day, because you may forget to mention it otherwise.
When not to take benzodiazepines (contraindications):
This varies from drug to drug. For example, some benzos are safe to take if you have liver problems, while others are not, and some are safe to take if you have heart problems, while others are not. You should be sure to inform your doctor or dentist if any of the following apply: known allergy to the drug, narrow-angle glaucoma, pregnancy, severe respiratory disease (COPD), congestive heart failure (CHF), impaired kidney or liver function, depression/bipolar disorder/psychoses, chronic bronchitis and some other conditions. Also if you're taking other medications be sure to mention this.
Oral sedation – A hit-and-miss affair?
One problem associated with oral sedation is that it can be a bit of a hit-and-miss affair. Basically, you don't know how well the drug will be absorbed from the stomach. Because the response to a drug is unpredictable anyway, you have to tailor the dose so that the 25% of people most susceptible to the drug won't get an overdose. But that means that the 25% who are least susceptible won't get enough… Body weight, height, or gender are not good indicators of how high the "ideal dose" should be, because the drug exercises its effects on the nerve cells in the brain. So, if you're quite large, don't take a little extra "just in case". A standard dose might have virtually no effect on a petite female, but a large guy might be totally zonked after taking the same dose… you get the picture!
Other factors which may affect how well a benzo will work include whether you want it to work and your (and your doctor's/dentist's!) belief that it will work (the so-called "placebo effect", which, BTW, has been shown to work even if you're aware of it). If you don't want the drug to work, for example because you're scared of losing control, your brain may try and fight the effects of the drug. As a result, you may not experience much of an effect at all, or else experience the effect as unpleasant. In which case, oral sedation may not be for you.
What people on our forum have said about benzos:
"My doctor prescribed me valium. I take one 30 minutes before my appt. It makes you a little sleepy and your anxiety disappears. It puts you in a "whatever" mood and helps you stop thinking about the pain or worries. "
"I remember being taken to the chair and them giving me a vial of liquid Halcion…This stuff tastes like Peppermint Cherry…leaves a strong taste in your mouth, but no side effects… Everything around me went fuzzy and blurry, like I was in a dream or something. They moved me to the other room, where everything happened so fast!!! I don't actually remember much, but I did feel bits and pieces… it wasn't like a "Get me out of this chair now, feeling" but something that I could deal with… I remember them preparing the molds for my bridge and crown, but I didn't quite care, and I didn't even GAG! Which normally I would have!
I did have some amnesia, and I did feel somewhat calm and distant from the procedures, which made me feel good. The appointment was 2 hours, but it felt like I was in and out of there in like 15 minutes. I don't remember walking to the car or the ride home."
Zolpidem (Ambien)
Ambien is a sedative/hyppnotic drug designed to relax you and help you fall asleep. So it can be useful for the night before an appointment. It is chemically similar to benzodiazepines. It is not a barbiturate (the traditional "sleeping pill", which thankfully has fallen out of favour).
While alcohol is another CNS depressant, its use as a sedative in dentistry has never been popular . Still, alcohol has long been used by apprehensive patients as a means of self-medication before dental appointments. Some people find that a G&T or a glass of wine before their appointment does the trick:
"I'm one of those people who does not respond well to anti-anxiety meds because they either knock me right out, even in the smallest dosage, or the side-effects, that never go away, just compound my problems.
So, I find that ONE (not a whole bottle) small glass of wine works wonders in just relaxing me enough to get some relief, without any of the horrible side effects of medication. And I honestly don't understand why everyone gets up in arms when you talk about using a TINY bit of alcohol to self-medicate responsibly."
Don't go overboard, though! You're not doing your dentist or yourself any favours by stumbling in reeking of beer and whisky … If possible, alcohol should be avoided before any actual treatment:
"The alcohol won't interfere with the local anaesthetic, but it will cause the local to be less effective due to the vasodilation effect and it will also cause any bleeding to be worse." (Gordon Laurie, BDS)
Herbal Alternatives
No, not THAT herb!!! no, I'm talking about "rescue remedy"!
Rescue Remedy
Rescue remedy is the most famous of the Bach flower remedies (which you may have heard of). Unlike the other Bach flower remedies, this one is a mix of five different remedies (Cherry Plum, Clematis, Impatiens, Rock Rose and Star of Bethlehem) which can make you feel more calm and relaxed during a stressful time or event.
You may be inclined to think "homeopathy? – bah, humbug". And who could blame you? Homeopathy is about taking a substance and diluting it… then diluting it again… and again… until you are left with a solution which contains such a weak dilution that there isn't any of the original substance left (still, some people swear by it. Personally, I reckon it's a placebo effect – but placebos have been shown to be almost as efficient as "the real thing" in many instances and don't have any side-effects, so what the heck?)
Actually, Bach flower remedies aren't homeopathic. Unlike homeopathic remedies, they contain an actual diluted herbal extract in alcohol (the alcohol is there as a preservative). Rescue remedy has received some rave reviews from people trying to calm their nerves before a dental appointment (and in the days or weeks leading up to the first appointment) – so why not give it a try? You've got nothing to lose, as there are no side effects. It's the only form of oral sedation which will allow you to drive to and from your appointment on your own.
Dosage: "In an emergency Rescue Remedy can be taken neat from the bottle, four drops at a time, and as frequently as required. Otherwise put four drops in a glass of water and take frequent sips until the emotions have calmed." (from the Bach Centre's website, www.bachcentre.com). Rescue remedy is available in most pharmacies and natural health stores.


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Life in a Day is a film capturing a single day through the lives of people across the planet — filmed by thousands of people and edited into a feature-length documentary. They have been showing the film across the country for the past month, after a preview at Sundance at the start of the year. It's pretty wonderful – something I wish we would do as a society every year, perhaps with different editorial groups.
The film team recently posted the clip of the young Peruvian student Abel going about his day with his XO, on YouTube, talking about life working on the street with his father, and pleased as punch with everything he can read about on Wikipedia. Abel was one of a handful of young people in Peru who were asked to submit film from their day to the crew.
This is one time when I am glad to see creative groups making full use of Facebook. The film's facebook page is the best source of new information about he film, and while we have been a casual fan of the film for some time, it was one of their updates there that pointed us to the new clip. Kudos as well for making so many of the individual stories from the film available on YouTube — please continue to do the same for the parts that didn't make it into the movie!


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Last September, after seven military veterans convened a press conference in Washington to share their first-person recollections of UFOs surveilling — and, in some cases, possibly disabling — U.S. nuclear missiles during the 1960s and '70s, the Air Force responded the only way it knew how. The USAF referred all queries to an ossified, weed-choked press release about how it hasn't been in the UFO biz since it pounded the nails into Project Blue Book in 1969.
To wit, not a single UFO incident — not a one among the 12,000-plus reports studied — represented "technological developments or principles beyond the range of modern scientific knowledge." Not a one posed a challenge to our national security. And whatever they are, they ain't ET.
But long before that disgraced PR campaign shut down, some of its own people — like Capt. Edward Ruppelt — were warning "there is a movement afoot" to mislead the public, and that it was emanating from official channels.
In 1956, shortly after he left the Air Force, the former Blue Book investigator offered a dose of skepticism in The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. "Good UFO reports," he charged, "cannot be written off with such answers as fatigued pilots seeing a balloon or star; 'green' radar operators with only fifteen years' experience watching temperature inversions cause blips on their radarscopes; or a 'mild form of mass hysteria or war nerves.' Using answers like these, or similar ones, to explain the UFO reports is an expedient method for getting the percentage of unknowns down to zero, but it is no more valid than turning the hands of a clock ahead to make time pass faster."
More specifically, Ruppelt wrote, "UFOs were habitually reported from areas around 'technically interesting' places like our atomic energy installations, harbors, and critical manufacturing areas. Our studies showed that such vital military areas as Strategic Air Command and Air Defense Command bases, some A-bomb storage areas, and large military depots actually produced fewer reports than could be expected from a given area in the United States. Large population centers devoid of any major 'technically interesting' facilities also produced few reports.
"According to the laws of normal distribution," he concluded, "if UFOs are not intelligently controlled vehicles, the distribution reports should have been similar to the distribution of population in the United States — it isn't."
Perhaps no contemporary review of Blue Book's own data punctures the Air Force fraud with more rigor than Tom Tulien's analysis of a 1968 incident at a Strategic Air Command base in North Dakota. As part of the Minnesota researcher's Sign Oral History Project, this story deserves far more attention than it's been getting since its release online last month.
De Void recently talked with several veterans who cooperated with Tulien's investigation. For the next few installments, former USAF personnel who responded to a security breach on the front lines of America's nuclear deterrent system at the height of the Cold War will share their reaction to the official dispensation of an embarrassment that took more than three hours to run its course.
According to the Air Force, the men it charged with maintaining and deploying weapons of mass destruction were guilty of being duped by stars and balls of plasma. These guys aren't happy about being made to look like chumps.


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Sandy Hook Shooting Is a Warning That All Are Depraved, Says Theologian
The killings that took place last week at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., serve as a warning to everyone, says one theologian. That warning, he says, is to see how much everyone is in need for a Savior.
" ... the murders of Newtown are a warning to me - and you. Not a warning to see our schools as defenseless, but to see our souls as depraved," said John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Piper's response to last Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six adults dead was posted on his ministry's blog.
The best-selling author of Don't Waste Your Life looked to the Bible to reflect on murder. Murdering a human being, he said, is an assault on God as humans are made in His image. It's treason against the creator of the world, he added.
But Jesus takes it further, saying everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (Matthew 5).
"He does not say unwarranted anger is the same as murder. It's not. Ask the bereaved parents of Newtown. He says both are liable to hell. Both come under a similar sentence from God," Piper explained.
"Because both are a sin against God, not just man. Jesus's threat of hell is owing not to the seriousness of murder against man, but to the seriousness of treason against God. In the mind of Jesus - the mind of God - heartfelt verbal invective against God's image is an assault on the infinite dignity of God, the infinite worth of God. It is, therefore, in Jesus's mind, worthy of God's righteous judgment.
"So what we saw yesterday in the Newtown murders was a picture of the seriousness of our own corruption. None of us escapes the charge of sinful anger and verbal venom. So we are all under the just sentence of God's penalty."
The gunman from Friday's shooting was also found dead at the scene from a self-inflicted shot. The investigation on possible motives is ongoing. The gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, was said to have suffered from a developmental disorder.
Amid mourning over the loss of mostly 6- and 7-year-olds, Piper reminded the public that mass murder is why Jesus came into the world "the way he did" – as a suffering Savior.
"He knew what this world needed. Not a comedian. Not a sports hero. Not a movie star. Not a political genius. Not a doctor. Not even a pastor. The world needed what no mere man could be," he stated. "The world needed a suffering Sovereign. Mere suffering would not do. Mere sovereignty would not do. The one is not strong enough to save; the other is not weak enough to sympathize."
He concluded, "The God who draws near to Newtown is the suffering, sympathetic God-man, Jesus Christ. No one else can feel what he has felt. No one else can love like he can love. No one else can heal like he can heal. No one else can save like he can save."


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MPV Free Stuff: Theremin Patches for Logic Pro
Interested in ethereal / spooky soundscapes? Want to emulate the original Star Trek soundtrack? Or just plain interested in sound design? You'll love these sounds Peter Schwartz has created in Logic.
Peter Schwartz
Just in time for Halloween too! :-)
Awesome, Peter, thanks a bunch!
Thank you so much.It's always nice to have new toys to play with.All the best of health.
Jorge Costa
Thank you sir!
Gary Hiebner
Cool Beans! Can't wait to try these out. Thanks Peter!
Thanks MPV and Peter!!
Thanks Peter and thanks MPV. Top notch as always! Your personalities and thoughtfulness are what make you stand apart and above the other online instructional entities.
Peter Schwartz
You're all very welcome! Just some quick programming notes... I took a relatively conservative approach to the LFO speeds & depth amounts, so by all means adjust them to taste. And you'll probably want to adjust according to the tempo of your track. Have fun!
Peter Schwartz
I meant to say, "And you'll probably want to adjust **the portamento speed** according to the tempo of your track.
G.F. Big
Andreas L
Awesome! Thanks a bunch, Peter.
Want to join the discussion?
Create an account or login to get started!


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Michelle Pfeiffer is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios announced Saturday at Comic-Con that Pfeiffer has been cast in the "Ant-Man" sequel "Ant-Man and the Wasp" as Janet van Dyne, who is Hank Pym's missing wife.
Pfeiffer will be starring alongside returning Ant-Man actors Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas in the film.
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige also announced that Randall Park and Laurence Fishburne were joining the sequel.
"Ant-Man and the Wasp" will be directed by Peyton Reed and hits theaters on July 6, 2018.
Copyright AP - Associated Press


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Our combined online history covers ten years of discovering, learning and utilizing Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs), on-line services, and the wonders of cyberspace.
We have come a long way in a relatively short time. Our progress has been facilitated by many individuals. As we approach the new millennium as AfriGeneas.com it is appropriate to express sincerest thanks and appreciation for some key people in the period 1989-1999.
Orchids and Love To:
Marva Peavy, Electra Price, Lynda Matthews, Yvonne Cagnolatti, Alex Turner, Idette Vaughn and Mike Wade who, with others, pioneered genealogical on-line searching for African ancestry.
George Ferguson, (GFL George) AOL Genealogy Forum Leader, for his total support in the creation of an African American message board at America On Line. That one message board has expanded to six boards, three weekly chats and a dynamic African American Resource Area in the forum.
Sharon Morgan (Sam130) for her leadership in establishing and organizing The African American SIG (Special Interest Group) at AOL.
Phyllis Austin, Saundra Brown, Bill Bunkley, Debbie Cuffy, Horace Fox, Clint Hayes II, Renee Ingram, Elizabeth Kambourian, Bennie McRae, Valencia King-Nelson, Electra Price, Audrey Quick, Victoria Robinson, Crystal Simmons, Gloria Smith, Karen Sutton, Angela Walton-Raji, George F. Washington and Marilyn White among others, whose participation was critical in the initial growth and development of the SIG.
Victoria Robinson for coining the term AfriGeneas.
Saundra Brown, Clint Hayes II, Susan King and Michael Emery for the ground work to establish a UseNet Newsgroup focusing on African ancestored genealogy. It was during this process that the possibility of a mailing list was realized.
Carter E. Bing of The DRUM organization who provided the server and online resources that launched The AfriGeneas Mailing List with 64 subscribers in April 1994.
Sandra Hall, the WebDiva, for designing and hosting the first AfriGeneas home page and giving us a bold presence on the Internet.
Don Mabry, Tom White and the Majordomo server at Mississippi State University for hosting the AfriGeneas mailing list and the webpage since February 1996.
Susan Buckley, Linda Ball, Alva Griffith and Marilyn Goodgion who are almost singlehandedly responsible for the SlaveData Collection being on line. Lorraine Miller who was the first volunteer to process SlaveData.
Angela Walton-Raji (GFS Angela), Manager and moderator of the African-American Special Interest Group [SIG] in The Genealogy Forum on AOL, and her dynamic team of volunteers, Alva Griffith (GFS Alva), Marilyn White (GFS Marol), R.E.Broome, Sr., (GFS REB), Selma Stewart (GFS Selma), and Ivy Anderson (GFS Ivy) who provide one of the richest systems of chat sessions in the AOL Genealogy Forum.
Clint Hayes for taking the primary responsibility to create, edit and publish The AfriGeneas digital newsletter and who, all those years ago, had the vision of AfriGeneas.com.
Anita Willis (GFS Anita) for creating the Surname Database and Registry, for maintaining them since February 1997 and who is consistently there with quality involvement whenever there is a task to be completed.
B.J. Smothers who not only expanded the vision of the AfriGeneas leadership but extended that vision for us all through the design magic of these AfriGeneas.com pages. Brenda, there are just no words.
Last but not least, to each of you, our participating members and subscribers, who exceed 1200 daily.
Valencia King Nelson Webmaster May 1999


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The race is on to squeeze cycles out of an 8MHz AVR chip in order to better drive the WS2811 LED protocol.
[Asher] doesn't want to buy charcoal aquarium filters if he can just build them himself. He filled a couple of plastic drink bottles with charcoal, cut slots in the sides, and hooked them up to his pump system. A gallery of his work is available after the break.
Is the best way to make microscopic sized batteries to 3d print them? Harvard researchers think so. [Thanks Jonathan and Itay]
The Ouya gaming console is now available for the general public. [Hunter Davis] reports that the Retrode works with Ouya out-of-the-box. If you don't remember hearing about it, Retrode reads your original cartridge ROMs for use with emulators.
Making a cluster computer out of 300 Raspberry Pi boards sounds like a nightmare. Organization is the key to this project.
Hackaday alum [Jeremy Cook] is working on an animatronic cigar box. Here he's demonstrating it's ability to listen for voice commands.
A Kelvin clips is a type of crocodile clip that has the two jaws insulated from each other. [Kaushlesh] came up with a way to turn them into tweezer probes.


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I'm writing this en route home from Shanghai, where I've spent most of the past week touring, visiting, meeting, and experiencing this Asian megacity for the first time. The occasion was Expo 2010, the world's fair situated on both sides of the Huangpu River, which runs through the center of China's largest city.
I came to Shanghai primarily for the opening of an art installation, "The Nature of Cities," on cities and biodiversity, at the Expo's United Nations pavilion. The theme of the exhibition — created and produced by Art Works for Change, the nonprofit group founded and headed by my wife, Randy Rosenberg — reflected the theme of the Expo itself: "Better City — Better Life."
That "better cities" theme pervaded the pavilions representing nearly 200 countries, plus dozens more organizations and corporations that are exhibiting here. And it aimed to signify Shanghai's emerging status in the 21st century as the "next great world city" — at least by Shanghai's own reckoning. Shanghai, like most big cities in both developed and developing economies, is a study in contrasts: on the one hand, world-class shopping, fine dining, and some of the planet's most impressive buildings; on the other, choking pollution, gridlocked traffic, and a struggling underclass. A rich and tortured history; a promising but uncertain future.
For two days, amid some of the hottest temperatures Shanghai had seen in 50 years, we toured the Expo, at times standing in long lines. The story each national pavilion told was predictable: "We're a proud people with deep traditions and care for the land that is our home. We support progress and a clean environment. We have great hope for our children. Here are a few of the things we're good at. Come visit us! Come buy our stuff!"
But not the USA pavilion, which stood out among the others, less for its design than its content: Its primary purpose was to showcase the companies that sponsored the building, a roll call of American capitalism: Alcoa, Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron, Citi, Corning, Dell, Dow, Dupont, Fedex, GE, Goodyear, Honeywell, Intel, KFC, Marriott, Microsoft, Pepsi, Pfizer, Pizza Hut, Procter & Gamble, Visa, Walmart, and more than a dozen others.
The message, as best I heard it: "We innovate to bring great ideas to the world! We build brands that the world wants! We create opportunity! Come visit us! Come buy our stuff!"
But it wasn't the country pavilions that most interested me. On my second day at the Expo, I made a beeline for the corporate pavilions, a smaller group of grandiose buildings across the river from the Expo's main crowds. It was here I found two competing tales of our energy and transportation future.
Up first: the General Motors Pavilion — actually the SAIC-GM Pavilion, reflecting GM's partnership with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. The pavilion's theme: "Drive to 2030," an engaging and highly optimistic tale of where transportation can take us within the next two decades, with an emphasis on China's vehicular future. That future, says GM, is one
in which driving will be free from emissions, accidents, petroleum, and congestion. It is a future in which driving will also be more enjoyable and fashionable than ever before.
The keys to this Utopian vision are electrification and connectivity — a technological mash-up of vehicles, energy, and information, where vehicles — from traditional cars, buses, and trucks to a new generation of cool "personal urban mobility" vehicles called the EN-V (pronounced "envy") — zip along at a decent clip, kept collision-free thanks to next-gen technologies GM is developing or integrating into vehicles — or at least plans to. Oh, and the sky is always blue.
I found the vision compelling and hopeful: a car maker that gets that the future is not just about cars and trucks, or even buses and trains — but about mobility: getting where you need to go, when you need to do it, in the least taxing (personally, economically, societally, environmentally) way possible. And maybe even tap into some cool, fashionable technology along the way.
(I'll admit to a little bias: GM is a client of GreenOrder, the strategy and management consultancy with which I am affiliated. But I would have been equally laudatory of any car company that promoted such a sustainable mobility vision. GM, as it turns out, was the only car company hosting a pavilion in Shanghai.)
You might respond, "Great. Nice vision. But when will we actually see it?" After all, we've been tantalized before at world's fairs with cool tech that never came to pass. (Picturephones, anyone?) And GM's track record for delivering on change isn't that great.
"This has become very strategic to GM," David Tulauskas, GM's head of public policy in China, told me over lunch at the pavilion. He cited the growing number of places like London and Singapore that are using congestion pricing; additional cities are creating "back office" traffic management technology platforms to manage vehicle congestion. He described the emergence of Dedicated Short Range Communications standards that can keep adjacent vehicles from colliding in order to utilize roadways more efficiently ("kind of like schools of fish that never run into each other," he explains). He explained how the expansion of GM's OnStar telematics technology could provide a range of consumer-friendly services. Tulauskas also pointed out that the "new" GM has taken a more aggressive stance on innovation, such as the venture fund it recently launched to develop and invest in advanced technologies, and a more robust long-range planning process being undertaken by GM that is approaching business development from a mobility perspective, and looking more frequently outside the company for technology solutions, a far cry from the inward-looking pre-bankruptcy GM.
Of course, it's all just talk and cool prototypes. But I walked away with the sense that this old-line company has a bead on where the future is headed, and wants to be in the driver's seat, so to speak, as that future comes into view.
That was not the case at the second corporate pavilion I visited, the Oil Pavilion, presented by three of China's largest petroleum companies, though it might as well have been sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute.
There was a decidedly old-world vision offered here — a propaganda machine spewing bromides about the wonders of petroleum in our world and how much we rely on it daily. Fortune-cookie-like reminders were everywhere you looked: "Convenient traffic conditions/70% are contributed by oil," read one. "One needs 551 kg of oil for food in lifetime," read another. (I'm guessing they weren't referring to this line of petrochemicals.)
The heart of the Oil Pavilion was an impressive 4-D movie (the fourth dimension is sensation: you "experience" snakes, flies, wind, ocean spray, and more). But its central message was decidedly one-dimensional: Oil is a critical part of everything we do, and it isn't going away, so learn to love it. Even when there is mention of the need for a "low-carbon economy," it quickly and curiously follows that "oil and gas will remain predominantly." Unlike GM's forward-looking message, this industry's viewed tomorrow as a carbon-copy of today — stay the course! — hardly a hopeful vision. Suffice to say that amid the petro-carnage in the Gulf of Mexico, not to mention the Persian Gulf, the core message of the Oil Pavilion seemed to have run out of gas.
And so went the Expo's two tales. Both anticipate a growing global population of urban dwellers seeking the good life, a life that demands mobility, not to mention food and shelter and fun. Both anticipate the challenges ahead of making cities that work, ensuring they aren't paralyzed by polluted air and congested roads, but which offer ways to get where people want to go.
But only one of those is a city I hope to see. The other is a city to dread.
Original Post: http://makower.typepad.com/joel_makower/2010/07/shanghai-a-city-of-two-tales.html


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God, what's that smell? The People's Commune of Tasmania Tasmania | |||||
| |||||
Motto: "Tasmania, the arse end of the world" | |||||
Anthem: "Two heads are better then one, I guess" | |||||
Australian women carry a map of Tasmania at all times. Next time you meet one, ask her to show it to you. | |||||
Capital | Hobart | ||||
Largest city | Bicheno, with 2 million+ penguins, and a human population that's nowhere near that number | ||||
Official language(s) | English (we think) | ||||
Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||
Governor | William Cox | ||||
National hero(es) | N/A | ||||
Declaration of Independence |
part of Danish Monarchy since May 14, 2004 | ||||
Currency | N/A | ||||
Religion | N/A |
"Bloody Hell, Madison Smith makes no freakin' sense!"
Tasmania is situated at the top of Australia, it is the northern most point of the world. It is the only state of Australia separated from the mainland by water: the Bass Strait Project created the gap upon the insistence of Victoria, which was quoted as saying "There's no way we want to keep touching that place."
This hasn't been enough, however, and things have reached the point where the Australian government is planning on selling Tasmania: the current bidders are Iraq, Sudan and New Zealand — no other nations are depraved enough to actually want to purchase the state. Considering Paul Keating, the former Prime Minister from the 90's who can't quite get his head around the "former" bit, once described Australia as "the arse end of the world", not much hope remains for Tassieland.
Tasmania is noted for its wildlife and its wildlife-like inhabitants: the Tasmaniacs, also known as the Taswegians, are one of two state populations in the world who are all part of each other's immediate family (the other being Alabama). Among Tasmaniacs, the greater number of family ties you have to the same people (i.e. being someone's father, brother, cousin and aunty all at once) the greater standing you have in the community.
For many years it was believed that Tasmania was originally inhabited by a proud race of Ninja turtles, who managed to produce a thriving civilisation despite living in one of the harshest climates imaginable to turtles. Recently, however, this laughable theory has been debunked by eminent national historian Albert Humperdinkle, who proved beyond doubt that Paris Hilton was in fact the explorer who discovered the island when looking for a new location for a new tape she was making.
Tasmania went on to become the site of the Confederate States of America's only colony. Once the hillbilly colonists arrived they continued the traditions of their motherland by having sex with the thylacines and giving birth to stripey humans.
Keith Windschuttle — described by himself, John Howard and Andrew Bolt as an eminent historian but described by everyone else as a gorgeous know-everything hunk of man-meat — has taken issue with many of the above facts. Windschuttle argues that Aborigines were in fact a hoax, after the Great Sand storm event of 1923 no Aborigines were ever seen again, and proposed that they should be listed in the book next to aliens and ghosts. Another theory of his is that "Aboriginal" was another word for "petroleum", and that references to the slaughter of Aborigines were in fact about the fluorescent booger.
Windschuttle has also argued that, far from being tens of thousands of years old, Tasmania is in fact only a few centuries old. According to Windschuttle, Tasmania was actually built brick by brick by the wonderful and virtuous white man, as a home for him and his servants. He supports his claim by the fact that there are no western records of the existence of Tasmania in the years before they discovered it. This is also said to explain the shape of Tasmania, as the repressed minds of its Victorian-era builders subconsciously crafted it in the shape of Queen Victoria's pubic hair.
The cultural intellect arose in Tasmania only after John Donaldson migrated there in the early 1970s. Not much improvement has occurred since.
Politics and international affairs
Despite being composed of hillbillies and rednecks, Tasmania is notable as the only state in which the majority of people voted against The Coalition Of Pricks and Rednecks in the 2004 Federal Election. Tasmania is in fact a left-wing stronghold and prominent proponent of gay rights (and also the home of Bob Brown, a rare Tasmanian who was born with one head, ten toes and not having a microcephalic brain) — although polls suggest this is merely a consequence of Tasmanians being accustomed to fucking all their siblings regardless of gender.
Tasmania acts as a de facto separate country to Australia, with enough apples and illegally cut wood to sustain itself for millions of years as well as having strong diplomatic ties with [Sierra Leone.
The Danish monarchy
Unlike mainland Australia, which is ruled by Empress Liz and managed by CEO Kevin McQueensland, Tasmania is a territory of the Danish monarchy. This means that Tasmanians grow tulips, drink Grolsch, wear clogs and smoke legalised marijuana despite the fact that all these things are actually Dutch. The Danish ambassador in Sydney is doing what he can about the matter, especially since May 2004, as discussed above, a distinction needs to be made between Dutchland and Denmark.
The intricacies of Tasmanian Demographics form one of the three great conundrums of existence, along with the existence of God and the ongoing popularity of Fred the mongoose. The reason for this is the seemingly nonexistent line of definition between its human inhabitants and wildlife. It is generally accepted that those who walk on their hind legs are accepted as humans and allowed to work, drive, and live in the cities. All lifeforms, however, are allowed to vote, with the exception of lice and hippies. All Danes can vote in any Tasmanian election as long as their vote ends in the words "May Mary rule soon".
Tasmania is home to the boony doll — a fierce creature that roams the bushlands. Another common animal is "the Jack" or the White-faced Dog. It is also the original birth place of the Tasmanian devil, a satanic rat-like creature that devours everything in its path. The Tasmanian tiger was hunted by the British and is now classified as being extinct, though there are still occasional sightings of them by lunatics.
Tasmania was originally thought be home to a distinct remnant population of Nigerian black bears living within it's western mountain ranges, however, it was discovered to be Terry and Jan from Rosebery. All the world's lice and hippies are genetically linked to a breeding pair hiding beneath a supermarket in Sydney in 1974.
Inbreeding has long been popular in Tasmania, resulting in many Tasmanians sporting gruesome deformities such as multiple heads, limbs in inappropriate places, mullet hair styles, and one large testicle as opposed to the two considered normal in the rest of the world. For this reason Tasmanians, much like New Zealanders, are banned from entering mainland Australia. Tasmanians who continue to breed outside their family are ostracised by a small part of the community and accused of being "Mudbloods". A classic example of Tasmanian deformity is Brian Harradine. He had the first reported case of two heads.
Environment and industry
Tasmania is soon going to be home to an effluent production plant which will be the island's main income. Effluent is a major commodity in Tasmania and 1L of sewage sells for about AU$75.00 in stores and AU$15.00 on the street. A major by-product of this plant will be some sort of wood pulp, which is a delicacy for anyone with "Gunn" in their name. Paul the Great supports the effluent mill and enjoys kickback payments.
Tasmania is still somewhat underdeveloped in terms of transport, lacking the technological infrastructure to introduce the internal combustion engine to the island. Trucks use coal powered boilers to transport their precious cargoes of pulp, timber and Tasmanian Devil meat from the tree-felled wastelands of the south to the market towns of the north. Ships used by Tasmanians vary, yet the majority form a squadron of ironclads that are used for raiding pacific islands for native women in a futile attempt to lower inbreeding rates (measured in extra limbs per thousand, 10% above mainland levels being the current target). Longships are also used for sports such as seal clubbing, or a sea race less known on the mainland although being very popular in Tasmania, the Hobart to Sydney. Crews of ships that make it to Sydney are given the privilege of meeting Lord David of Boone at his Royal Palace upon their return, on the condition they bring back the rare mainland elixir of his choosing, which is always Victoria Bitter. Air travel is limited to hot air balloons and canvas tri-planes, often reserved for government officials for their hazardous trips to the mainland to sit in sessions of parliament.
Primary industry is mostly limited to forestry, fur trapping (often harvesting wild Tasmanian females) and the mining of peat, coal and gold in the abyssal mountains of mid-island. Fishing forms a minor part of primary industry due to the apparent dangers associated with fishing in Tasmanian waters. Several whaling ships are taken a year by the rarely sighted Giant Tasmanian Kraken. Harvesting game and extermination of pests is also a minor yet important part of Tasmanian primary production. There are large wild populations of Tasmanian tigers, devils, gold miners and trees that are hunted through either firestick farming or baiting. This is usually done during the wet season while Gold Miners are in hibernation and Tasmanian Devil attacks on babies in frontier towns are at their highest intensity.
Famous Tasmanians
Lord David of Boone
Tasmania's most famous son is undoubtedly Sir David of Boon. In the 1980s, while on a flight to London with The Australian House of Lords (The Australian Cricket team), Boonie consumed somewhere between 47 and 52 cans of either VB or Fosters. This effort, along with a swag of runs against the Poms and an uncanny ability to catch a cricket ball travelling just below the speed of light, has turned Boon into somewhat of an Australian legend. Beer drinking cricket fans around the nation regularly worship graven images of "Boonie" and down cans in his honour. Sir David currently resides in his own autonomous kingdom somewhere in the mountains of Tasmania. Rumor has it that he has achieved immortality, and can be destroyed only by being tricked into drinking wine.
Princess Mary of Denmark
Mary Donaldson is the Crown Princess of Denmark, a title the undeserving lassie obtained by vulgar display of trashiness when she rubbed the chest of the visiting dimwit Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark during the Sydney Olympics. Being the gold digger that she is, she has made headlines for her excessive spending, being called the Imelda Marcos of the North. Back in the days when she'd happily shag Tasmanian hillbillies in the back of a ute, Mary was described by one former lover as a "Holden Commodore": boring, but does what you want it to. Mary now cares only about fashion and being in magazines, she never had a successful career and loved to drive around in her then-boyfriend's used cars — not his property but he worked at a dealership so Mary had her pick. Now she wears Prada and Hugo Boss and thinks she's the shit. In a strange twist of consistency, the Australian mind-controlling media still seem to think that Mary is still "Australia's" (property), despite her traitorous emigration; as for Germaine Greer, not so much. For more on the princess's deep thoughts and friendship with ridden hard and hung up wet Amber Petty, see http://cpmary.blogspot.com. She also went on a tour of Taroona High School (the high school she used to attend) and didn't even bother to come and meet any of the students! What a bitch!
The exact date and place of birth of Taz are uncertain, even though he is the world's most famous Tasmanian. His age cannot be estimated as his appearance is unchanged since going on a near-vegetarian diet (large trees and other inanimate objects) while keeping his dangerous reputation chasing rabbits and ducks after emigrating to the US.
Map of Tasmania
It is widely known that there is a wide range of quintessentially Australian objects that are venerated by the population of the world's smallest continent. Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars are some of the more traditional ones. Kevin Sheedy, Llleyytonn Hewittt, Ollie, Millie and Syd have made more recent inroads into hearts and minds from Cape York to Cape Otway and from Fremantle to Wooloomooloo. But at a more fundamental and private level there is one thing that Australians hold in esteem above all others: the Map of Tasmania.
Every Australian woman earns the right to wear a Map of Tasmania as she reaches puberty. At the same time, the majority of Australian males become almost unnaturally obsessed by them. As guardians of the sacred image, the women go to great lengths to keep them away from the prying eyes of the menfolk. The men in their turn resort to extreme measures in their attempts to gain access. Common tactics include chasing a football around a cricket field in a tank-top and tight shorts and starting international media and publishing empires.
In the present day, women have become less tolerant of this behaviour on the part of the men and have been known to trim their maps of Tasmania so that they are no longer recognisable as such. Research has shown that this typically does nothing to quell the spirit of the males and can often further inflame their spiritual fervour.
Places to visit in Tasmania
- Ho-bart.
- Fields full of sheep.
- Launceston. Only to find graffiti on someone's fence opposite the city park saying, "Where is the love? Obviously not here!" in which you will despair and head off to Devonport. You then wonder why you went to Devonport.)
- 9/11 liquor stores. It's true, they really do have them!
- The Osama Ben Lomond ski resort.
- Outside the public toilets at Franklin Square at night to meet with a group of emos to discuss how no one ever cares.
- Anywhere else in Tasmania.
Other Australian states
See also
- Boganie, Tasmania
- The boony doll, if he doesn't see you first, you poor soul


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Recently I prepared gazpacho for Armando, whose family grow biodynamic coffee in North East Brazil. We were discussing how we could market his smallholder, sustainably grown, 100% Arabica coffee beans to our veg box customers. The quality was undoubtedly wonderful, both in flavour and in terms of social and environmental justice, but after six months in the UK Armando had realised that this, on its own, would not sell his coffee. There was a whole industry between him and his potential customers: an industry more interested in using its brands to protect margins than it was in quality; an industry adept at alluding to provenance but with a vested interest in keeping him and his fellow farmers as far from coffee drinkers as possible. He had approached Riverford because we are farmers who deal directly with our customers and have acquired a reputation for caring about fairness and flavour.
Despite being made from ingredients picked from our fields just hours earlier, the soup was unsatisfactory. Annoyingly, after the first mouthful Armando was able to tell me the problem: "The tomatoes are not ripe enough." His tone intimated that it was obvious and only a fool would not be able to identify this. Infuriatingly he was right; our pickers had been there before me, leaving only the under-ripe fruit; but how could he be so sure?
The answer emerged later in our conversation as he described the food and culture of his home region, where the journey from field to kitchen to plate is short and unpunctuated by the interventions of distant food manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Brands have no place because everyone has the skill and confidence to recognise good food, they understand that you need good ingredients to make it, and they have the confidence to make these judgements without the embellishments that define our food brands. In Armando's view, his staff, earning £7 a day and growing their own vegetables amongst the coffee, ate better than most British people earning ten times as much. He went on to say, in a bemused way, that our food seemed to be more about consuming adjectives than quality, citing the packaging in supermarkets and the absurdly florid descriptions on restaurant menus.
Armando had been in the UK for several months, looking for a market for his premium-grade coffee, and he described a visit to one of the biggest processors of coffee where an impressive machine processed coffee with lightning speed, precision and efficiency, roasting, grinding and firing it into the bags of many of the leading brands – including several supermarket own brands. The machine raced on from one brand to the next, premium to commodity with just a change of packaging and adjustment of the roasting and grind. The brand and the adjectives on the packaging changed but the beans were the same, bought as a commodity on the world market.
Not surprisingly, the big processors were not interested in Armando's paltry thirty tonnes of premium beans, grown in the small, mixed and sustainably managed fields of his fifteen co-operative members. And even less interested that the same picking families sing and dance most evenings and return year after year because of the fairness and respect with which they are treated. I feel sure that many potential customers would be interested, especially as the margins in the coffee trade are so large that, given a more equitable distribution, this biodynamically grown, organic coffee would only cost about 30% more than low-grade, non-organic, commodity coffee on the supermarket shelf – perhaps amounting to 2 or 3 pence per cup.
Just as farming can and should be a beautiful, humane and harmonious process, so can cooking and sharing food. At their best they both involve passion and love and are central to our health and culture. In twenty-five years of showing people around our farm, from chefs to amateur cooks to coke-swilling, disaffected young people, I invariably find that proximity to growing food leads to an interest in and enthusiasm for cooking it. On the other hand, nothing is more guaranteed to destroy the desire to cook than the sensory deprivation of a sterile supermarket aisle, however many tens of thousands of anonymous, over-packaged, cleverly labelled goods are on offer.
If we could just bring the growing and cooking of food together the results would be radical: we would have no need for a 'five a day' programme or 'Jamie's school dinners'; no need for a Food Standards Agency, a Food Ethics Council or even a Food Commission. The transformation of our food, farming and culture would be huge – inevitably and unquestionably for the better. Nothing can beat the touching, smelling and seeing of physical proximity.
Call me a hippy if you like, but that transformation is already happening. A staggering 43% (and rising fast) of Riverford customers now grow some of their own vegetables. No doubt this is a highly selective sample, but the public appetite for shortening the food chain is much broader and can be seen everywhere, from the huge rise in gardening, farmers' markets, box schemes and farm shops, through our supermarket's tokenistic but publicised shows of local sourcing, to the absurd claims of 'home baked' or 'farm fresh' or the nonsensical 'sun blushed' tomato, or the Columbian black-tailed hen (seldom black-tailed, not from Columbia, and known as babcocks until they got re-branded).
The significance is not in the laughable absurdness of these claims but in the effort that goes into making them. The marketing agencies and brand consultants, who pride themselves on knowing what we want even before we do, have recognised the gathering desire to connect with how our food is produced. They have responded with their snake-oil skills and given us soothing, largely meaningless words. Whose 'home' were those hundred thousand pies baked in? How can 'local seasonal' vegetables advertised on that chain menu include French beans and broccoli in January?
Were it not for the power of the internet (complete with blogs, Twitter, Facebook and the rest) to provide direct and uncensored communication, it is possible that our food industry would manage to defend its factories, warehouses and global distribution with its smokescreen of marketing-led, brand-defending drivel. In my travels to suppliers around the world and in conversations with cooks at home, I have encountered a quiet determination to reclaim a healthy, wholesome and enjoyable food culture, which has given me renewed optimism. My experience at Riverford has been that bringing those cooks and farmers together realises a joy in and enthusiasm for food – which makes change inevitable.
Do we really want Jimmy's Farm or Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage, or is that just another fantasy? Will our food industry, with such vested interest in defending the status quo of factories, warehouses and global distribution, be able to keep farmers and cooks apart? If markets really delivered what customers wanted change would be inevitable.
The nation is emerging from a mind- numbing, brand-induced stupor to realise that cooking can and should follow directly on from farming and that the food will be all the more enjoyable for it. The food industry will resist – lobbying, marketing and misrepresenting whilst appealing to our basest desires with fat, salt, sugar and convenience. Our customers tend to be abnormally vocal, questioning and well informed, but they are also trendsetters. In the age of blog and Twitter trends spread fast.
Beetroot Haters' Soup
By Jane Baxter, Riverford Field Kitchen
Taken from the Riverford Farm Cook Book
Serves 4
2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped 1 potato, peeled and diced 2.5cm (1") piece of fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped grated zest of 1 orange, plus extra to serve (optional) juice of 2 oranges 3 medium beetroots, cooked and cut into small dice 1.2l (2½ pints) water sea salt and freshly ground black pepper a little cream or yoghurt, to serve (optional)
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and fry until soft but not coloured. Add the potato and ginger and fry for three minutes. Add the orange zest and juice, plus the beetroot and water, then bring to the boil and simmer for twenty minutes, until the potato is tender. Blend until smooth. Reheat gently and season to taste.
Serve garnished, if you like, with a swirl of cream or yoghurt and a little grated orange zest.


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Mental health crisis will need enlightened leadership
By Ed Seavey • Guest Columnist
The recent issue of the Smoky Mountain News (Jan. 16, "WNC Confronts Mental Health Crisis") on the mental health crisis was interesting. Officials quoted proclaimed diplomatically that the issue is complex, as they wonder what went wrong with the mental health system. Though the issue of mental health is indeed complex, how we got there should be no mystery to those that have been involved in the process. Closed-door politics and the sovereignty of undying local control is what got us where we are.
Historically in our state, each public service agency has been granted segregated powers, duties, and funding to provide services independent of each other through state mandates. Though these state agencies — Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, Division of Social Services, Department of Public Instruction, etc. — worked independently with clients, many served the same clients at any given time. With no evident organizational multi-agency leadership by the state, there was created costly overlapping services for clients and gaps in services for clients falling through the cracks.
This costly, inefficient, and ineffective system was apparently of no concern when taxpayer money was "plentiful." However, there was suddenly a need for "reform" when the state budget crisis occurred. Though the state created this segregated/ fractured service industry, the powers that be decided it was time for the agencies to collaborate to serve more clients with less money; it would come to pass that there would indeed be more clients as well as less money.
Agencies in the seven counties of Western North Carolina historically did collaborate within their own agencies in order to survive the inattentiveness of Raleigh for this part of the state. However, with sovereignty and local control intact, there would be limited collaboration between agencies as territory and turf were established and they competed for state funds. Though the state public service system was not created to be collaboratively friendly, the powers in Raleigh set the multi-agency collaboration process in motion. The problem was that state leadership put the cart before the horse by not legislatively removing roadblocks to collaboration that were originally created.
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The Division of Health and Human Services (DHHS) was commissioned by the General Assembly in October 2001 through H.B. 381 to facilitate reform within mental health, developmental disability, and substance abuse services (mh/dd/sas), which had become administratively bloated, financially out of control and ineffective in service provision. The principles of reform were creative, but the implementation was negligent. DHHS created a state plan as a blueprint for local mh/dd/sas area programs to follow in the creation of a local business plan designed to address the needs of the community (or maybe more accurately, to address the state budget crisis).
With the ingrained history of local control, DHHS was not legislatively given the power/tools to do much more than create some guidelines in the creation of local business plans. DHHS did, however, have the power to approve or deny the local business plan and withhold state funding. This paved the way for Area Programs to get "creative" in the development of the local business plan to be submitted to the state for approval to become a Local Management Entity (LME) worthy of state funding to supervise the private providers of the privatization/reform process. The state plan did set guidelines in calling for a local multi-agency collaborative process that also was to include consumer advocates. There was a multi-million dollar attempt for a regional collaborative spearheaded by the local Smoky Mountain Center (SMC) LME, but that initiative was dismantled when the federal grant money supporting it ran out. This was also the case with the WestCare transportation grant that had relieved the burden of client transportation by county sheriffs' departments, as reported in the SMN. It does not seem "best practice" to rely on temporary grants to provide stable services.
It only stands to reason that an agency is going to dig its heels into its turf and circle the wagons when its livelihood becomes threatened. This does not create a favorable environment to enhance collaboration. Factor in local control and you know that the local business plan is going to look good on paper. In addition, the entire process can become more of an exercise in public relations than actual substance of any kind. Even the "required" State Plan Consumer and Family Advisory Council (CFAC) could succumb to a rubber-stamp function and for the possibility of a staff-dominated LME committee.
So it appears that we got where we are today in mental health because state leadership was asleep at the wheel when the budget was good and because of historical philosophy of local control that created division where cooperation was needed.
However, closed-door politics probably was the biggest culprit in the failures of reform. As a member of the State Mental Health Planning Advisory Council — as well as the SMC Regional Collaborative, CFAC, and Client Rights Committee — I have met a lot of genuinely caring/devoted professionals committed to service. Despite the creative ideas and promising plans of those people, as well as some state legislators, and university minds, it was meaningless without appropriate funding.
It became apparent that reform was about budget cuts rather than service, when funding was cut that was needed to work the plan that so much effort went into the plan turned out to be a contest to see which of the 29 local LMEs in the state could come up with the best plan to serve the most clients with the least funding. In this "eat or be eaten process," the "winners" would take over the losers in the LME survival scenario in a process of consolidation. The surviving LMEs would then have larger territories and more clients to serve with even less resources. This, along with the DHHS hands-off policy that evolved out of the local control era, meant that the clients were the guinea pigs in the process. There never really was a master plan in reform; it was an elusive moving target that "evolved." Reform was too much, too soon, and too fast. The premise of mh/dd/sas reform arose out of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on a Georgia case — Olmstead vs. L.C. (June 22, 1999) — which decreed that a client has the right to be served in their own community rather than being confined to a state facility. As our state leaders created the "plan" to close state facilities, it did not make available the time or the funds needed to create community care supports.
So, the answer to the question "how did we get this bad?" is somewhat elementary; though the issue itself is complex, it will take a different kind of leadership and a higher level of commitment as a whole to answer the question — where do we go from here? Now that the wild horse of mental health has been "broken," maybe with the right leadership and resources an arena of a multi-agency collaborative process will develop out of necessity in this crisis.
Evidence of this has been seen in the recent gathering of our region's sheriffs in Macon County, where they — along with congressional representatives, mh/dd/sas staff, service providers, etc. — realized just how dire this fractured system has become.